Name the big summer movies out this year, The Fault in Our Stars, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Godzilla, Malificent, Guardians of The Galaxy, How To Train Your Dragon 2 and of course who can forget much anticipated Rio 2 (Sarcasm intended). The next task is to find the common themes within these movies. That obviously being that they are all either franchises, gritty reboots, sequels, or super hero movies, (Godzilla literally being a gritty reboot for a new super hero franchise that is about a heroic ancient super hero dinosaur monster).
It has become a trend that nearly every big movie that comes out is based on a book. Rarely do we see a risky or even original movie get a wide release. Obviously this is because the movie business just that a business and the production companies have done their homework and know that they can sink millions of dollars into a movie as terrible as Rio 2 and expect a profit because "shit, did you see those colors? Children loooove colors".
Now before you all go and whisper under your breathe, "Guardians of The Galaxy is a risk" stop yourself and really think about it. Not only is Guardians a big budget and I mean BIG budget super hero movie, it is also a sequel of sorts (that it is a continuation to the marvel cinematic universe) It is a Disney film and last but not least it is a giant teaser for The Avengers 2 (The super hero fanatic in me just peed a little writing that). That movie is GOING to make money, and the executives at Disney know that.
However this isn't the point of this post. Although it may be fun to rant about the movie business I enjoyed X-Men and positively (and let me add un-ironically) loved Godzilla. This blog post is to commemorate a movie that (in my opinion at least, but then again this is also my blog so that was probably implied) took a risk. That movie being Edge of Tomorrow.
Lets get this out of the way right off the bat. Edge of Tomorrow is the best movie I have seen this year so far (granted I haven't seen The Grand Budapest Hotel yet which saddens me to no end). It was action packed, looked great and above all else was extremely hilarious. Overall, this movie did exactly what it wanted to do which is, create a great time for it's audience. Which is probably the best thing a summer movie can do.
Now I know Edge of Tomorrow is based off of the manga All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Which means yea it is based off of a book. But it is based off a book that is by no means mainstream, and on top of that has been given a different name. On top of that this movie is a stand alone movie. No spoilers but it has a pretty definitive ending.
The most bizarre thing about this movie is that besides leading man Tom Cruise, it is a pretty risky sell. Unlike Godzilla that has the benefit of being a well known franchise and Guardians which has the benefit of being apart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Edge of Tomorrow went into cinemas in wide release with nothing more than Tom Cruise, who I have nothing personally against (although he is arguably one of the craziest human beings to ever walk this fine earth) but I wouldn't have been surprised if he joined the sea of washed up actors dicking about in the nostalgia riding Expendables 3. (I mean seriously? Kelsey Grammer? What demographic is he catering to (The "I loved the Beast in Last Stand AND Fraiser and I would looooove to see them in an action movie about explosions also hashtag:THEBOSS!"?) Not that I have anything against that cheese fest or Tom Cruise (as an actor) but really as far as promotions go, that really isn't a seller in 2014.
It is a wonder to me that Edge of Tomorrow was even made really. Try describing it to a friend:
You: Hey lets see a movie
Friend: LETS SEE THE MOST AMAZING SPIDEY MAN (in the dumbest voice you can imagine)
You: How about we don't waste our time and see Edge of Tomorrow
Friend: Well that isn't a well established franchise noir does it have many relevant actors in it besides Crazy Cruise. What's it about?
You: It is like Groundhogs Day meets the opening scene to Saving Private Ryan.
Friend:.... What is Groundhogs Day ?
You: (Smack friend for being so uncultured).
Now of course that is a dramatization but the point is this movie is a hard sell. Yet it still went all the way through to prove itself to mainstream audiences. It is a risky risky movie with a budget of almost 200 million dollars and a pretty sad opening weekend of only 29 million.
The real crime here is that the reason fantastic movies like Edge of Tomorrow are so rare, is because they audience of 2014 really and I mean REALLY craves familiarity. Everything we see in theaters is based on a book or a comic book, or apart of a franchise. Which in turn leaves no room for movies like Edge Or Looper or Pacific Rim or any original non rebooted sci fi movies.
It leaves me sour that I know Hollywood will probably never start making original pieces again, movies that are fun to watch instead of unnecessarily dark and gritty (yes The Dark Knight was great but seriously, Malificent? Seriously?) That original movies will eventually loose their place in mainstream media, and by 2042 the 15th Spiderman movie will probably be running for best picture along with a couple Disney sequels and Godzilla:MechaGodzilla, The Rise of Godzilla. But at least we can remember a time when originals did exist. At least we have that.
Until then GO SEE EDGE OF TOMORROW GOD DAMMIT! And of course....
....Thanks for reading.
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